資源・素材学会 年次大会

Methods for imminent earthquake prediction have never been established so far. Even if a prediction method was established, it could not significantly reduce infrastructure damages although it could slightly reduce the number of fatality. On the other hand, prevention of earthquake, if a method could be developed, could reduce not only the number of fatality but also infrastructure damage to an almost negligible level. This might be possible by exploding the present nuclear warheads underground because a report from Russia pointed out that no earthquakes more than or equal to M8.3 occurred during the period in which the underground nuclear explosions were taken place. We statistically tested whether the explosions prevented giant earthquakes (more than or equal to M8) or not and found that the necessary condition was satisfied. The mechanism of the prevention is discussed, and the necessary yield to prevent giant earthquakes and how long the human could prevent giant earthquakes by the present nuclear warheads are estimated.